Monday, May 20, 2019

CERROS MARAHUACA, PETACA, DUIDA, HUACHAMACARI BY CHARLES BENTLEY



CHARLES BENTLEY (1805-1854)
Cerro Marahuaca (2, 832m - 9,291ft) 
Cerro Petaca (2,700 m - 8,900 ft).
Cerro Duida (2,358 m - 7,736 ft) 
Cerro Huachamacari (1900m - 6,200 ft) 
Venezuela 

In Esmeralda on the Orinoco - from Views in the Interior of Guiana executed after sketches 
during the expedition carried on in the years 1835 to 1839

The mountains
Cerro Marahuaca (2, 832m - 9,291ft) actually consists of two summit plateaus, the slightly larger northern one going by the Yekwana Amerindian name Fufha or Huha. The southern plateau  is known by two local names; its northwestern edge is called Fuif or Fhuif, whereas its southeastern portion is called Atahua'shiho or Atawa Shisho.
Cerro Petaca (2,700 m - 8,900 ft), is a large forested ridge in Amazonas state, Venezuela. It lies just west of the two high plateaus of Cerro Marahuaca and northeast of the massive Cerro Duida. Part of the Duida–Marahuaca Massif, it is entirely within the bounds of Duida–Marahuaca National Park.
Cerro Duida  (2,358 m- ,736 ft) also known as Cerro Yennamadi, is a very large tepui in Amazonas state, Venezuela. It has a summit area of 1,089 km2 (420 sq mi) and an estimated slope area of 715 km2 (276 sq mi). At its foot lies the small settlement of La Esmeralda, from which the mountain can be climbed.  Cerro Duida  shares a common base with the much smaller (but higher) Cerro Marahuaca located off its northeastern flank, and together they form the Duida–Marahuaca Massif. Both tepuis are entirely within the bounds of Duida-Marahuaca National Park. Sandwiched between them, a massive ridge known as Cerro Petaca.
Cerro Huachamacari ( 1900m - 6,200 ft) also spelled Huachamakari or Kushamakari, is a tepui in Amazonas state, Venezuela. It lies northwest of the giant Cerro Duida and the other peaks of the Duida–Marahuaca Massif. It has a summit area of 8.75 km2 (3.38 sq mi) and an estimated slope area of 60 km2 (23 sq mi).  It is within Duida-Marahuaca National Park.

George Henry Hamilton Tate led a major expedition of the American Museum of Natural History to Cerro Duida in 1928–1929. Named the Tyler-Duida Expedition, it was the first to reach the mountain's summit plateau and the first to climb a tepui of the Venezuelan Amazon. Mount Duida frog was first collected during the expedition and is still not known from anywhere else, although it was formally described only 40 years later. Although primarily a zoological expedition, much plant material was collected. These herbarium collections were studied extensively by Henry Gleason, who formally described many of the mountain's plant species in a series of papers published in 1931. This was followed by a number of important botanical explorations of Cerro Duida, first by Julian A. Steyermark in 1944 and later by Bassett Maguire in 1949 and 1950.

The artist
Charles Bentley was an English watercolour painter of coastal and river scenery. Bentley was born in 1805 or 1806, the son of a master-carpenter and builder living in Tottenham Court Road, London. He was sent to work colouring prints for Theodore Fielding to whom he was eventually apprenticed in order to learn aquatinting. During his apprenticeship he was sent to Paris, probably to assist work on the plates for Excursion sur les Cotes et dans les Ports de Normandie' (Paris, 1823-5), most of which were after watercolours by Richard Bonington.
Bentley painted scenes all over Britain, in Jersey, the north of Ireland, and in Normandy, which he visited several times with Callow between 1836 and 1841. He also exhibited views of Venice, Holland and Düsseldorf, but it is not certain that he actually went to these places, as he is known to have painted works after sketches by other people, such as his paintings of Trebizond and Abydos, shown in 1841 and 1849, based on drawings by Coke Smyth. He also worked up the illustrations for 12 Views in the Interior of Guiana (above)  published by Rudolf Ackermann in 1841, from studies done on an expedition to South America by John Morison.
Bentley was not financially successful: Samuel Redgrave described him as "uncertain in his transactions, and always poor". He died of cholera on 4 September 1854, leaving a widow.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau